Recently I tried this experiment with the long rest rules in D&D 5e. RAW, long rests require 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of “light activity”. In a party of 4, each individual character takes a 2 hour watch, by themselves, so the party all get an 8-hour rest. I would have each player narrate a scene of what their character does during that time. I changed sleep to require 4 hours of sleep and 4 hours of light activity. The group still needs 8 hours, but now characters can take a watch together. This has completely changed the vibe of my long rests.
When their watch starts, I usually ask the players what their characters talk about or how they pass the time together. I recently picked up the Ultimate RPG Campfire Card Deck and have used the cards to prompt conversations as well. Long rests have led to these intimate, in-character conversations where they philosophize, reminisce about cool story moments, and share more nuanced bits of their backstories. When an encounter does happen, the two characters face it together, like a kind of micro-adventure. This has saved me a ton of prep time (less random encounter rolls) and made for some cool, two-person scenes.
I really love how this small change has had such a large effect on my game. As a Professional DM, I am always looking for ways to up my game and enhance my player experience. I imagine this community has some great ideas on how I could build on this.
- Are there prompts you can think of that might direct the roleplay in cool directions?
- Any interesting encounters that two characters could solve together in a scene (hopefully without needing to break the light activity rules)?
- Any other techniques you use to enhance the long rest experience?
submitted by /u/Dungeoneer80
[link] [comments]
r/DnD Recently I tried this experiment with the long rest rules in D&D 5e. RAW, long rests require 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of “light activity”. In a party of 4, each individual character takes a 2 hour watch, by themselves, so the party all get an 8-hour rest. I would have each player narrate a scene of what their character does during that time. I changed sleep to require 4 hours of sleep and 4 hours of light activity. The group still needs 8 hours, but now characters can take a watch together. This has completely changed the vibe of my long rests. When their watch starts, I usually ask the players what their characters talk about or how they pass the time together. I recently picked up the Ultimate RPG Campfire Card Deck and have used the cards to prompt conversations as well. Long rests have led to these intimate, in-character conversations where they philosophize, reminisce about cool story moments, and share more nuanced bits of their backstories. When an encounter does happen, the two characters face it together, like a kind of micro-adventure. This has saved me a ton of prep time (less random encounter rolls) and made for some cool, two-person scenes. I really love how this small change has had such a large effect on my game. As a Professional DM, I am always looking for ways to up my game and enhance my player experience. I imagine this community has some great ideas on how I could build on this. Are there prompts you can think of that might direct the roleplay in cool directions? Any interesting encounters that two characters could solve together in a scene (hopefully without needing to break the light activity rules)? Any other techniques you use to enhance the long rest experience? submitted by /u/Dungeoneer80 [link] [comments]
Recently I tried this experiment with the long rest rules in D&D 5e. RAW, long rests require 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of “light activity”. In a party of 4, each individual character takes a 2 hour watch, by themselves, so the party all get an 8-hour rest. I would have each player narrate a scene of what their character does during that time. I changed sleep to require 4 hours of sleep and 4 hours of light activity. The group still needs 8 hours, but now characters can take a watch together. This has completely changed the vibe of my long rests.
When their watch starts, I usually ask the players what their characters talk about or how they pass the time together. I recently picked up the Ultimate RPG Campfire Card Deck and have used the cards to prompt conversations as well. Long rests have led to these intimate, in-character conversations where they philosophize, reminisce about cool story moments, and share more nuanced bits of their backstories. When an encounter does happen, the two characters face it together, like a kind of micro-adventure. This has saved me a ton of prep time (less random encounter rolls) and made for some cool, two-person scenes.
I really love how this small change has had such a large effect on my game. As a Professional DM, I am always looking for ways to up my game and enhance my player experience. I imagine this community has some great ideas on how I could build on this.
- Are there prompts you can think of that might direct the roleplay in cool directions?
- Any interesting encounters that two characters could solve together in a scene (hopefully without needing to break the light activity rules)?
- Any other techniques you use to enhance the long rest experience?
submitted by /u/Dungeoneer80
[link] [comments]